Thanks to Stephanie Nelson, aka “The Coupon Mom,” you can still use coupons from the Sunday circulars, but you’ll only have to spend five minutes cutting them right before you shop. You’ll cut instead of clip. Here’s how it works. The CouponMom website (www.CouponMom.com) tracks every coupon in most every Sunday circular. Instead of blindly clipping coupons and hoping you will be able to use them, you just save all the circulars without cutting them. Then, when you need something, you search for the product on CouponMom.com and the site tells you if there is a coupon for it in a recent circular.

CouponMom.com has flipped the entire process over so that it is easy and productive. First the need, then the coupon, instead of vice versa. It makes so much more sense. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on the simple, money-saving process:

1. Know the main circulars. You can see the names of the circulars on the front or in tiny print on the binding. Couponers refer to them by their initials. They are:

• Red Plum (RP).

• Smart Source (SS).

• General Mills (GM).

• Procter & Gamble (PG).

2. Save your circulars. Save all of your circulars—whole, without cutting—for two months. Most coupons expire after 10 weeks, so you can toss the circulars at that point. A few individual coupons are good for 15 weeks. It’s up to you if you have space to keep them that long.

3. Label them. Scrawl the name and date of each circular on the cover in magic marker to make it easier to identify them quickly.

4. Organize them. Organize your stash of circulars in whatever way works for you—a stack, a box, a binder, or an accordion file. This way you have all the current coupons at your disposal when you need them.

5. Search CouponMom.com. Before shopping, go to the “Grocery Coupon Database” on CouponMom.com. You can search by brand name or product type. If you were looking for chocolate chips, you could type in “Nestle” or “chocolate chips” to find them.

6. View results. The CouponMom website will then list the date and source of every coupon for chocolate chips. Circulars are identified by their initials, as shown in step 1.

7. Cut and go. Now you can go directly to the circulars that contain coupons for the products you need.

It’s brilliant! No more clipping coupons in advance and hoping the tiny scraps don’t fall out of your wallet before you manage to use them. On the CouponMom site, as you see deals you want, you can check a box next to them to create a customized shopping list. Using that list, you cut out or print out only the coupons you need. Then you’re off to the store. Easy-peasy.

Increasingly, there are valuable Internet coupons, called bricks, online. CouponMom.com indexes some of them. Another website, www.HotCouponWorld.com, also has a searchable coupon database. It’s maintained by members and indexes some sources that CouponMom.com does not. If you would like to search coupon sites on your own, here are some good ones:

• http://CoolSavings.com

• http://Coupons.com

• www.RedPlum.com

• http://SmartSource.com

I just spent 30 seconds online and found a current example that shows that sales are good, but sales plus coupons are better. Check it out:

Hot Shot Ant Spray

Regular price	$ 2.99
Coupon	1.50
Final price Final price	$ 1.49
BIG SAVINGS =	50%

Okay, normally I’d be crowing about how that’s half off—50 percent! A purchase worthy of stockpiling. But check out what happens when you do a Coupon Combo, combining a coupon with a sale:

Hot Shot Ant Spray

Regular price	$ 2.99
Sale price	1.49
Coupon	1.50
Final price	Free!
BIGGER SAVINGS =	100%!

Yes, that’s right, there was a coupon for Hot Shot Ant Spray in the July 19 Smart Source circular. And by waiting to use it until there was a sale, I could “buy” Ant spray for free. This is not some freak occurrence. If you pair sales with coupons you will routinely get groceries for pennies on the dollar or for free. If you see low cost or no cost opportunities like this for products your family doesn’t use, you can donate them to a local food bank.

How to Get Extra Internet Coupons

There is a way to print more than one e-coupon or brick at a time. Photocopying e-coupons is not allowed. It’s considered fraud. But most manufacturers allow you to print two coupons at a time from their site. After you print your first coupon, all you do is hit the “back” arrow on your computer until the coupon is sent to your printer again. If you wait a couple weeks, the website may reset and allow you to print two more coupons. New e-coupons usually come out the first day of the month, so it’s a good idea to check that day, so you have more opportunities over the course of the month for the site to reset, allowing you to print additional coupons.

Coupon + Doubled or Tripled

Sales are one way to use a store’s incentives in combination with coupons. Double and triple coupon offers are another. For example, if you have a $.50 coupon, the manufacturer kicks in $.50 off of your purchase and the store matches it with another $.50 of its own money. Nice!

Although the double or triple discount is usually automatic at the register, you will need to know, in advance, which stores double or triple coupons so you can double or triple the amount of business you give them! My neighborhood grocery store has a huge banner out front that proclaims “We Double Coupons.” Since not all stores are so brassy about this generous policy, don’t be shy—just ask at the courtesy desk. There are also two online guides to grocery stores that double coupons, which can be found at www.GroceryCouponGuide.com and www.Couponing.About.com. I’ll link you to the precise pages of those sites that you need from my site, www.ElisabethLeamy.com.

Once you have determined which stores double or triple coupons, here are a few key questions to ask the manager:

• Do you double coupons only on certain days or every day of the week?

• To what amount do you double coupons? (The most common policy is $.50 and below, followed by $.99 and below.)

• Do you limit the number of coupons for the same product that you will double in a single shopping trip? (If they only double the first one, you can wait and buy more of that product in a separate trip to the store.)

• Are there special times when you double or triple coupons up to a higher amount?

Many Stores Now Accept Expired Coupons

Some stores accept expired coupons to hold on to loyal customers. Guerrilla Grocery Shoppers can take advantage of this, because many manufacturers alternate between offering coupons and offering sale prices. If you can use an expired coupon, you have even more opportunity to match it up with a sale.

With a thorough understanding of your store’s coupon doubling or tripling policy, you now have to get your head around some new math so that you can use your coupons wisely. For example, if your store doubles coupons up to $.99, that means a $1 coupon is only worth $1 but a $.75 coupon is worth . . . $1.50! Odd. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize a $.75 coupon is suddenly more valuable than a $1 one at this store.

Coupon doubling and tripling policies are little gold mines. Seek out the stores that do this—especially for stockpiling—and you will SAVE BIG. Here’s an example. HotCouponWorld.com has a forum where new couponers can brag about their best bargains. A newbie named J.J. Rogers wrote in that she had several $.35 coupons for C&H sugar, which the store honored at triple value. Here’s the deal she got:

Sweet C&H Sugar Deal

Regular price	$3.05
Sale price	1.50
Triple coupons	1.05
Final price	$ .50
BIG SAVINGS =	84%

Wow, 84 percent off? Sweet! Literally. So what did J.J. the newbie do? She acted like a Guerrilla Grocery Shopper and bought 15 five-pound bags. Whoa. That’s 75 pounds of sugar! Instead of paying $45.75 for it, she spent only $7.50. Her kids will be wired for life!

You Can Use Manufacturer Coupons from One Store at Another Store

If you see a coupon printed on a store flyer, look closely: Does it say “store coupon” or “manufacturer coupon?” If it’s the latter, it’s the manufacturer who is paying for your discount, so you are free to use that coupon at a different store!

Manufacturer’s Coupon + Store Coupon

Up to this point we’ve been talking about coupons the manufacturer offers to get you to try its products. But stores also offer their own coupons, to get you to come in. This is another Coupon Combo that will help you SAVE BIG. I know, I know, you’re scared by the familiar phrase “Cannot be combined with other offers. ” True, you cannot combine two different manufacturer coupons, but you can combine a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon because the money is coming from two different sources. Yippee!

For some reason drugstores, like CVS and Walgreens, offer far more store coupons than grocery stores do. That means drugstores can often be a great source not only of personal care and household goods, but also of food. They may not have much variety, but you can SAVE BIG on things like cereal and soup if you combine a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon at a drugstore. Look for store coupons in flyers on racks in the drugstores and also in direct mail and Sunday circular ads. Here are some more sources of store coupons:

• Store Sunday circulars. (Look for the words “Store Coupon” across the top.)

• Single-page store newspaper ads.

• Direct mail ads sent to your home.

• Store magazines.

• Store websites.

• Store e-mails. (Joining the store loyalty program could be your best source of store coupons.)

• In-store flyers on a stand at the front or back of the store.

• The price-check box at CVS stores. Scan your loyalty card to print coupons.

• Store clubs like baby clubs or pet clubs.

• Fund-raising books sold by nonprofits for about $5.

• Websites like HotCouponWorld.com and www.AFullCup.com.

Look for Stores That Accept Competitors’ Coupons

Often stores don’t advertise that they accept competitors’ coupons. You’ll probably have to ask. It can be essential for those situations where stores promote the same products one after another. So while one store is offering coupons for a product, another may be offering sales on that product. Combine these two opportunities and SAVE BIG!

Targeting Target Coupons You can hit the bull’s-eye at Target if you’re looking for manufacturer plus store Coupon Combos. Target offers extensive coupons on its website and it accepts manufacturer coupons, too, though it does not double them. Plus, Target allows you to use coupons on sale items.

Here’s the trick: Target posts its coupons online for only two weeks, but they are typically good for six weeks. And by that time, many of the items in the coupons have gone on sale, so you can combine a store coupon with the sale price to SAVE BIG.

Make Money with Rebates and Rewards

Rebates are refunds you have to apply for. Rewards are store credits you get automatically. Drugstores are the hotbeds for these hot offers. You can now apply for Walgreen’s EasySaver rebates on the chain’s website, which takes all the annoyance out. Ask for your rebate on a gift card and Walgreen’s gives you an extra 10 percent. Walgreen’s Register Rewards and CVS’s Extra Care Bucks are store credits that the register spits out when you make a purchase. Guerrilla Grocery Shoppers learn to roll this month’s rewards over to next month’s purchases and get many products for free!

So how do you get those coupons after Target takes them down? There are websites that are known as Target coupon generators. It’s perfectly legal. HotCouponWorld.com and AFullCup.com are two of them. They have big buttons on their home pages that say “Target.” Sign up and print. It’s a cinch. Here’s one example of a Target Coupon Combo that I just found.

Morningstar Farms Veggie Burgers

Regular price	$3.79
Manufacturer coupon	1.00
Target coupon	2.00
Final price	$0.79
BIG SAVINGS =	79%

A 79 percent savings is fabulous! And here’s the best part: I didn’t actually do the hard work of figuring out whether there were manufacturer coupons and store coupons available. I just went to BeCentsAble.net’s forum where smarter Guerrilla Grocery Shoppers than I regularly post their finds. Marcy, who writes a blog called “Stretching a Buck,” spotted the meatless burger offer. And I’m free to poach it—or grill it or fry it!

Buy-one-get-one-free + Two Coupons

Another Guerrilla Grocery Shopping strategy that helps you SAVE BIG is combining buy-one-get-one-free offers with coupons. Did you know that when a store advertises that something is “Buy one, get one free,” or “BOGO,” it usually means that both products are actually half price? That means that if you really only need one of the product, you don’t have to buy both. Ordinarily that would be a hot little savings tip in itself, but we’re not into getting just what we need. We’re into SAVING BIG!

So here’s the real revelation: If you see something on sale as a buy-one-get-one free offer, that means you can do a Coupon Combo where you use two coupons on top of the BOGO deal. There are thousands of opportunities like this. A dad who calls himself HopOnCouponPop—a play on the popular children’s book title—found a great deal on dish detergent by using this strategy. Here’s how his deal worked:

Cascade Dishwasher Powder

Buy-one-get-one-free price	$6.00
Two coupons for $3.00 off a box	6.00
Final price	Free!
BIG SAVINGS =	100%

But wait—there’s also another buy-one-get-one- free trick. If a store offers a product on a BOGO basis, and you also have a manufacturer coupon to get the product on a BOGO basis, you can do both. It’s another way to get two items free. Why do they allow it? Because buy-one-get-one free deals are really half-price-on-each deals and because one discount comes from the store and the other comes from the manufacturer.

Keep Coupons for Services a Secret

If you have a coupon that offers $100 off your next paint job, gutter cleaning, or another negotiable service, you can’t tell if you’ re really getting a discount unless you know the company’s usual price. So call and get a quote first and then reveal that you have a coupon. That way, you know the company didn’ t mark the price up first before applying the coupon to it.

X Off of Y Purchase + Other Coupons

I’m sure you’ve seen those coupons where you get X dollars off if you spend more than Y amount. For example, spend $40 and receive $10 off of your purchase. By itself, that’s a 25 percent savings, which is mediocre. But many stores will honor the X off of Y offer on top of all your other store and manufacturer coupons. Here’s a deal on baby formula cobbled together by Terri4548, who posted her first brag on HotCouponWorld.com.

Enfamil Baby Formula

Regular price	$ 25.99
$5 off of $ 20 coupon	5.00
Walgreens store coupon	2.00
Enfamil manufacturer coupon	2.00
Enfamil check	5.00
Final price	$ 11.99
BIG SAVINGS =	54%

Getting 54 percent off is not bad for a Guerrilla Grocery Shopper- in-training, right? Here’s the crucial key: You must hand the coupons to the clerk in the right order. First, present the X off of Y coupon so that the total is still high enough for it to count. In this example, the offer required a purchase of at least $20 to get $5 off so if she had used all her other coupons first, her total amount would have been under $20 and the X off of Y offer wouldn’t have worked. To get the most out of X off of Y coupons, try to spend as close to the minimum required as possible.

Beware of Counterfeit Coupons

You should never pay for coupons. (The one exception: charity coupon books.) The point is to save money, not spend money, so avoid the cheaters selling coupons on auction sites. If you download e-coupons from the manufacturer’s website or reputable websites, you will know they are real. Genuine coupon sites require you to download a small program that lets your printer create barcodes. This is how stores—and you—know your coupon is legit.

Coupon Combo Coaching

I’ve given you the nuts and bolts for using coupons to buy your soup to nuts, but for further coaching and coaxing, there is wonderful support out there on the internet.

• BeCentsAble.net. Take the inexpensive online tutorial or find an in-person class taught by a BeCentsAble educator in your area. Check out the forums where Guerrilla Grocery Shoppers share their best deals. Kristin McKee and Chrissy Pate are writing a book called Be CentsAble which will be packed with additional savings information.

• CouponMom.com. In addition to her indispensable Grocery Deals by State and Grocery Coupon Database, Stephanie Nelson has written a new book entitled The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half.

• HotCouponWorld.com. This site, run by volunteers, is full of articles to get you started, forums to ask questions, a great coupon database, plus links to printable coupons.

• TheGroceryGame.com. This website preaches and teaches stockpiling and matches coupons to sales for maximum impact. It also lists store coupon policies. There is a fee, which cuts into your savings, but it should pay for itself.